Talk:Izzy's Quest for Olympic Gold (1995 TV Movie)/@comment-474334-20160821073811
I remember this special pretty well. Izzy's dream was to go to the Olympic Games "down below," as he and his people lived in a world inside the Olympic flame. That's one Hell of a Brigadoon aping if I ever saw one. His parents aren't exactly supportive, and two bullies, Martin and Spartan, mock him for it. Remember the bullies. They're gonna hurt later. He shows all kinds of athletic acumen, but his people tell him, ad nauseam, throughout the special, "It can't be done!" In a show of altruism, Izzy saves a drowning Spartan, after the latter gets caught in a current. Turns out Martin is the son of one of the elders of this world. They argue over how to reward Izzy for his deeds. One wants to write a poem, one wishes to write a song, but Martin's mother says Izzy should choose. Izzy, of course, wants to go to the Olympic games. The elders are taken aback, but put him on a quest for the Olympic rings. He immediately gets the first one, blue, for perseverance, after he's all over this. Somewhere in all this, he meets a kindly woman who helps explain to him his powers of transformation, and how it's a gift to be nurtured and respected. Obviously lore bait, but I can respect what they were going for here. He enters a bike race and transforms into a tennis racket to knock away falling rocks, giving him an unfair advantage over the rest of the field, and giving him the victory. He almost immediately forfeits his victory and says "I sorta cheated...by accident." He doesn't say how, but the race officials applaud him for his integrity, and thus, he receives the black ring. The elders aren't too pleased about Izzy's quick progress, nor are the rest of the people, it seems, so Izzy is put to a test of athletic competition. His opponent? Spartan. If Spartan is the all-around winner, Izzy's quest is over, period. Through some shenanigans, Martin manages to take the place of a judge during some type of track and field event, giving Spartan a perfect 10 and Izzy a 5. Izzy loses this event, accepts the loss, and admits that Spartan actually wasn't all that bad. It's here he receives the red ring, which the kindly woman explains is for sportsmanship. Izzy and Spartan race in some type of sprint, and Izzy wins with grace and ease. For this, he earns the yellow ring, for excellence. The last competition is for all the marbles, and a fight to the bitter end, though it's here I forget whether it's wrestling, boxing, or some other type of athletic combat. The arena is evenly split, between those who are okay with Izzy going to the Games, and those vehemently opposed. As the sky opens up and storms form over the arena, Izzy refuses to take on his fellow, and with this act, the final ring appears. The elders remark that it's the ring of brotherhood, a concept they've forgotten in all this. Martin and Spartan obviously get in some sort of off-screen trouble with Martin's mother, who has found out about the shenaniganty that compromised the integrity of the competition. It was a harmless special for what it was, but Izzy was a character poorly marketed and even more poorly executed.